Revision as of 17:32, 28 September 2012

A player character in the world of Pokémon is the protagonist of the games. Remarkably silent, player characters are the avatar of the player; it is left up to the latter to "fill in" what they imagine the character is feeling, thinking and acting, thus immersing the player within the world of the game.

Philosophy

The player character is a critical part of the Pokémon games' core. Set in an approximate background, player characters are effectively the players themselves, giving the latter the opportunity to add in their details, color the journey with their views and personality and co-exist with other players. Concurrently, they are the hero of the said myth, the one person to take part on the main events of each game. This twofold nature of the player character gives players the opportunity to choose from several alternatives and distinguish themselves from one another, while at the same time the adventure of the protagonist of the game unfolds, with the several details not being set or standard. Ultimately, the events of the game progress with the player assuming the protagonist's role, while all at once finding themselves in the world of the game as a unique entity.

To date, only one player character has reappeared from an older generation in a role other than that of the player. In Generation II and the Generation IV remakes, when Ethan or Kris/Lyra travels to Mt. Silver and reaches the deepest point of the cave, Red is found, utterly silent as he was under the player's control. At the time of these games' respective releases, Red's Pikachu was the highest-leveled Pokémon owned by an in-game Trainer (Barry's fully evolved starter Pokémon temporarily surpassed the standard set in Gold and Silver until the release of their remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver).

Characters

Side series games

Stadium series

Three unnamed player characters appear in Pokémon Stadium series. Japanese-only Pokémon Stadium featured one male character, whose design was likely based on Red. However, for the sequel a brand new male character was created. This player was also in Pokémon Stadium 2, where he was given a female counterpart. She appears when a player uses a Pokémon Crystal Game Pak with the girl chosen in the saved game. Like the main series player characters, these three remain silent throughout the games.

In the anime

In the anime, five of the player characters have been given major roles, three of them in the main anime series. Ash and Ritchie represent Red (their game counterpart), being based on him in appearance as well as basic history. At the beginning of Advanced Generation, May was introduced in order to better represent Generation III, as both Misty and Brock are characters native to Generation I. Likewise, at the beginning of the Diamond & Pearl series, Dawn joined Ash. Alternatively, in the Black and White series, Hilda was not present. Instead, Iris, a Gym leader from the Black/White games, joined Ash.

Ash and his friends have also encountered several player characters from the side games. Todd Snap was the first, and a special case, as he originated in the anime before appearing in Pokémon Snap. He joins the group for a few episodes at two points in the anime: once during the Indigo League and once during Johto League Champions. The others, Solana, Kellyn and Ben are all Pokémon Rangers that Ash and friends assisted in rescuing and protecting Pokémon.

None of the Generation V player characters have yet been seen in the main anime.

In the manga

Most of the characters in Pokémon manga are based on player and rival characters from the main series, with Red being based on his game counterpart. This is also the case for his two fellow Kanto Pokédex Holders, and the same applies for nearly all other main characters in the series; Gold, for example, is based on the then-unnamed player character Ethan. However, because the Yellow version, the fourth installment to the first generation, gave no additional protagonists, Yellow was created, revealed to have been the girl Red rescued in Viridian Forest before his battle with Giovanni. Emerald is another cognate case, as in the entirety of Generation III, only two player characters were given. Wally, the closest thing to a third main character, was dropped in favor of this new character designed entirely from scratch. As of the DP and Platinum chapters, only the first ten main characters have met each other, as none of the Sinnoh Dex Holders have ventured out of their region.

Additionally, though Lyra is almost universally accepted as a different character from Kris, rather than a redesign like Ethan, Crystal has appeared wearing her clothes to serve as a counterpart, rather than introducing a second Johto female protagonist for the HeartGold & SoulSilver chapter.

Red's dialogue during his appearance as a NPC in Gold, Silver, and Crystal and their remakes, reflects the games' player characters' status as silent protagonists.

The list of default names per gender generally repeats* from game to game. Exceptions to this are character-specific names, which are names unique to a character, usually references to the title or aspects of the game.

Until Generation V, the given Japanese names of the male player characters in the main series games (as NPCs) all end in ki (キ). This excludes Red's appearance in Generations II and IV, as he is not a player character during the games when he is an NPC. Inclusively, Lunick's Japanese name also ends in ki.